Va. principal didn’t know first grader had gun, lawyer says
The former principal of the Virginia elementary school where a 6-year-old shot his teacher was not aware of reports that the student had a gun before the shooting occurred, her lawyer said Thursday.
Briana Foster Newton was principal at Richneck Elementary in Newport News last month when first grade teacher Abby Zwerner was shot and wounded in her classroom.
“It continues to be reported that unidentified school administrators were aware that the 6-year-old student had a gun at school on Jan. 6 and simply failed to act,” attorney Pamela Branch said in Richmond, Virginia. “Mrs. Newton has been assumed to have been one of those administrators. However, this is far from the truth.”
Branch provided the first public statement from Newton since the shooting occurred and sought to clarify Newton’s role in an incident that has drawn criticism of the school’s administrators.
Newport News police Chief Steve Drew has repeatedly characterized the shooting as “intentional.” He also has said there was no struggle before the child pointed the gun at Zwerner and fired one round, striking her in the hand and chest.
Zwerner, 25, hustled her students out of the classroom before being rushed to the hospital, where she stayed for nearly two weeks.
Newton is no longer listed as the principal on the school’s website. Michelle Price, a spokesperson for the school district, said last month that Newton is still employed by the district, but she did not say what position Newton holds.
Police have said the 9 mm handgun used in the shooting was legally purchased by the boy’s mother.
The family’s attorney, James Ellenson, said in January that his understanding was that the gun was in the woman’s closet on a shelf well over 6 feet high and had a trigger lock that required a key.
The family also said the boy has an “acute disability” and was under a care plan “that included his mother or father attending school with him and accompanying him to class every day.”
The week of the shooting was the first when a parent was not in class with him, the family said.